Heart Attack Recovery Diet: What to Eat After a Heart Attack?

A heart attack¹ is a severe and traumatic medical incident as it causes a cut in the oxygen flow to the heart and brain tissues, this is indeed very harmful as the tissues die from lack of oxygen.

If you or any of your close ones recently had a heart attack and you are wondering what to eat after a heart attack, here is a list of certain nutrients that you should include in your diet.

1. What Should You Eat After a Heart Attack?

Healthy eating is really important for your heart health. Having heart-healthy foods helps in specific ways, such as lowering your high blood pressure and reducing the risk of high cholesterol.

For a healthy heart, you should lower the intake of unhealthy fats such as packaged and ultra-processed foods.

For your cardiovascular health² to be expected, you should also limit salt intake and eat enough nutrients such as fruits and vegetables, whole grains such as brown rice, and fat-free dairy products.

Make sure also to limit your alcohol consumption as too much alcohol causes increased risk factors of heart attacks.

1.1. You Can Consume Healthy Fats

You will have to make sure that you are following a heart-healthy eating plan after a heart attack.

You should not consume saturated fat; instead, you can go for healthy fats such as oily fish, which is rich in omega-3 fatty acids. You can consume salmon, tuna, lake trout, and mackerel.

1.2. Whole Grains

For a post-heart attack healthy diet, you can start consuming whole grains to lower the risk of heart disease.

They are a great alternative to certain foods and refined grains like white bread, rice, and pasta. You can have a fibre-rich diet, such as brown rice, corn, barley, whole wheat, and quinoa.

1.3. Nuts and Seeds Post-Heart Attack

Nuts with seeds count for heart-healthy snacks, they are a rich source of proteins, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and essential fats. They suit your heart health, and you should soak them overnight before using them.

When you wake up, fill half your stomach with almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, and pistachios. You can even spread maple syrup over them to make your meal more delicious.

1.4. Good Oil for Heart Health

Dietary approaches post-heart attack should surely include consuming healthy oils to lower high blood pressure and improve heart health.

Also, ensure not to have processed meals and canned foods as they have unhealthy oils and partially hydrogenated fats.

Your eating habits should include extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil, peanuts, sesame, groundnut, and sunflower oil. You can consume 2-3 teaspoons of olive oil or any other healthy oil for good heart health and a decreased risk of heart disease.

1.5. Vegetables and Fruits

Including plenty of vegetables and fruits in your diet can be highly beneficial after a heart attack as they help boost the nutritional value of your diet.

You can include juicy fruits in your healthy diet, such as apples, berries, oranges, limes, melons, and pears. You can have carrots and broccoli in vegetables as they provide enough vitamins and minerals.

1.6. Proteins from Lean Meats

Heart-healthy foods post-heart attack include lean meats as well as skinless chicken, you can avoid processed meats and animal fats such as red meat.

So, you can skip processed meat and have fish, eggs, milk, yogurt, cheese, beans, tofu, lentils, and chickpeas instead.

1.7. Mediterranean Diet Post Heart Attack

The Mediterranean diet³ has several cardiovascular benefits, including this in your lifestyle will help with the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease. The diet mainly focuses on consuming healthy fats, fish, grains, beans, and legumes.

These should be taken with enough fruits and veggies, with dairy and meat consumed in moderation. This diet mainly focuses on using plant-based foods and oils instead of butter.

1.8. Plant-Based Diet

If you are wondering what this diet is, it is a kind of diet that includes the consumption of little to no meat at all. If you consume less amount of meat, it automatically means consumption of less saturated fat and cholesterol.

In this diet, you must focus mainly on fruits and vegetables alongside grains and legumes. It will promote heart health and lower the risk of cancer, heart stroke, and diabetes.

Heart-Healthy Nutrition: A Comprehensive Guide from a Nutritionist Perspective

Jonathan Valdez, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Owner of Genki Nutrition, emphasizes the importance of having a heart-healthy diet:

“A cardiologist can offer specialized knowledge on how diet impacts recovery post-heart attack and the specific nutrients crucial for heart health.

Nutritionist or Dietitian specializing in Cardiac Health:

• Foremost, listen to the cardiologist’s orders post-heart attack. That would mean both taking your medications. A heart attack is caused by a cholesterol plaque in the arteries that narrows the blood flow.

If not managed, the artery is blocked, leading to a heart attack.

• It would be best if you were on a low-sodium diet with a recommendation of less than 2,000 milligrams per day to prevent the worsening of your blood pressure.

The reason is that salt holds fluids in the blood, creating more pressure.

• Consuming a high-potassium diet can also help optimize your blood pressure. The American Heart Association and Health recommends men consume 3,400 milligrams of potassium and 2,900 milligrams of potassium for women.

Some foods containing potassium are apricots, lentils, squash, potato skins, oranges, tomatoes, avocado, milk, yogurt, salmon, and beef.

• For heart attacks and “bad” cholesterol, saturated fats are the biggest culprit. Consider consuming less than 6% of your recommended calories from saturated fat.

So, if you’re consuming 2000 calories, you should not eat more than 120 calories or 13 grams of saturated fat daily. And these saturated fats are from animal sources.

So avoid the skins of the chicken, trim the fat outside of your steaks, and look for lean cuts.

• Look for monounsaturated fats⁴ instead of unsaturated fats. Research shows that monounsaturated fats can help decrease the “bad” cholesterol.

Aim to consume avocados, nuts, canola oil, sesame oil, sunflower oil, nuts, and olive oil.

• Consume foods high in beta-carotene (a form of Vitamin A) and Vitamin C. Both work together to combat the blockages in your arteries.

Sources of Vitamin C are oranges, cantaloupe, all bell pepper colours, kiwi, strawberries, and broccoli, to name a few. Sources of Vitamin A are carrots, squash, sweet potatoes, milk, and eggs.

• If you’re overweight or obese, especially with a waist circumference greater than 40 inches for women and 35 inches for men, you will be at greater risk for a heart attack.

Decreasing calories by portioning your foods, increasing your fruits and vegetables, and exercising at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity can help you reach a healthier weight.”

2. Foods to Avoid After Heart Attacks

By now, you know the food-eating habits you can incorporate into your lifestyle after a heart attack. You can avoid foods that contain excess sugar and salt. Presenting you the food list that you should avoid after a heart attack:-

• Canned food
• Fried foods
• Fast food such as burgers, pizzas, hot dogs
• Biscuits, candies, cookies and cakes
• Ice creams
• Deli meats
• Mayo, ketchup
• Alcohol
• Red meat

The Role of Diet in Heart Attack Recovery and Prevention: An Internal Medicine Perspective

Dr. Kelvin Fernandez, an Internal Medicine physician and tutor at Ace Med Boards, propounds the importance of a healthy diet in heart attack recovery:

“As a medical professional and an internal medicine resident, I’d be glad to provide a unique perspective on how dietary changes contribute to heart recovery and prevent future heart attacks.

1. A Mediterranean-style diet, rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and healthy fats, has been linked to lowered cardiovascular risk and enhanced heart health.
2. Limiting the intake of industrially-produced trans fats found in processed foods can drastically reduce the risk of future heart attacks.
3. Dietary choices can significantly impact blood pressure, a key risk factor for heart disease. A diet low in sodium and high in potassium aids in maintaining healthy blood pressure.
4. Fibre-rich diets help maintain a healthy body weight, lowering heart disease risk factors such as obesity and diabetes.
5. Optimal hydration, often overlooked, plays a vital role in maintaining the volume of blood flowing through the heart.”

Final Note

Now that you know the eating dos and don’ts after a heart attack⁵, you must take a step forward and include the diet in your lifestyle for long-term good health.

You can incorporate specific changes in your daily lifestyle, such as physical exercise and also make your eating pattern a bit healthier.

Including physical activities in your lifestyle changes will positively affect your overall health. You can also consult with a healthcare professional or a dietitian for informed food choices and embark on the journey of a healthier and happier heart.

FAQs

1. What are the best fruits for having a post-heart heart attack?

Including a high-fiber diet in your lifestyle lowers the risk of heart attack. Berries are a good source of vitamins as well as fibre. So, you can have strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.

2. How do I strengthen my heart after a heart attack?

You should incorporate certain physical activities in your lifestyle to strengthen your heart. You can start by walking for around 5-10 minutes a day. Slowly build it up and add more light exercises to your routine.

3. Is taking supplements fine after a heart attack?

Supplements are usually prescribed when your diet does not include enough nutrients. You won’t have to go for any supplements if you consume a properly balanced diet.

If, in case, you are taking a vegan diet and you do not get enough vitamin B12 or you do not get enough vitamin D, as vitamin D is not found in any food diet, then you can be prescribed supplements.

Guest Author: Saket Kumar

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3. Davis, Courtney, et al. “Definition of the Mediterranean diet: a literature review.” Nutrients 7.11 (2015): 9139-9153. ↩︎
4. Zong, Geng, et al. “Monounsaturated fats from plant and animal sources in relation to risk of coronary heart disease among US men and women.” The American journal of clinical nutrition 107.3 (2018): 445-453. ↩︎
5. Healy, Liam, et al. “Developing a disease management program for the improvement of heart failure outcomes: the do’s and the don’ts.” Expert Review of Cardiovascular Therapy 17.4 (2019): 267-273. ↩︎

Last Updated on May 15, 2024 by Namrata